Peanut Butter Oat Bites

I made cookies this weekend. I shouldn’t do that, because I always eat too many. When I make them, it’s just easier and makes more sense to double the recipe and make 90 of them. No matter how many I need, I always double it. I only make cookies when I have somewhere to be. The great thing about the cookie dough is that you can freeze the cookie dough balls and then just bake 1 or 2 at a time. The problem is, now I have a freezer full of cookie dough that is taunting me.

I stumbled across several variations of “protein bites” and decided to make my own. Just for fun, I put the recipe in a nutrition calculator and they come out at around 150 calories/piece and 4 g protein/piece. My version even used more protein rich ingredients then the others I saw. Despite the fact that these are comparable to the amount of calories in a cookie, these are much better for you. Not all calories are the same. Yes, you still want to eat these in moderation. But calories from natural peanut butter, hemp seeds and chia seeds far outweigh calories found in sugar and butter.

When I made these, I ended up with about 48 of them. Justin and I often find ourselves with the munchies or a sweet tooth and having a container of these in the fridge will help curb ice cream runs and chips and guacamole regret.

Peanut Butter Oat Bites

3 cups Old Fashioned Oats
3 cups Shredded, Unsweetened Coconut
1/2 cup Chia Seeds
1/2 cup Hemp Seeds— You can use all chia seeds, if you can’t find or don’t want to buy hemp seeds.1/2 tsp Salt
2 cups Natural, Creamy Peanut Butter— The kind that has the only ingredients as peanuts and maybe salt. No oil. No sugar.1 cup Honey or Maple Syrup
3 tsp Vanilla
1-2 tbs Almond or Coconut Milk — if it’s too crumbly, just add a little at a time until it’s the right texture

In a large bowl, mix together all of the dry ingredients
Add in all of the wet ingredients and mix well— I just used my hands. It was messy, but I wanted to ensure it was mixed well.Place the bowl in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to help it firm up
Form bite-sized balls— It’s going to be a little crumbly, so rolling it like cookie dough isn’t possible. You have to squeeze and compress it in to a tight ball
Keep in a container with a lid in the refrigerator